Bygone

Boston basedheavy metal actBygone'sself-titled debut album lands on December 12thviaSvart Records, ready to soundtrack your cosmic explorations of an imagined past. You could call it hard rock or heavy metal, but on this LP it's probably closest toMétal Hurlant. This is hardly the first slab of molten black and silver forged by the members of the band, who have previously traveled the Iommic byways of configurations likeMagic Circle, Blazon Rite, Concilium, Witchtrial, andMissionary Work. Here, they join together to forge new routes through the whirlpool where matter vanishes.The album’s lead singleTake Me Homebuilds a galloping call and response between dual guitar leads and nimble keyboard lines, while its lost-in-space lyrics yearn for a more pastoral and earthbound existence. An outsider answer toUriahHeep'sJohn Lawtonperiod or maybe a Taarna-less variation on theBouchardbrothers' "The Pact."Through the album, the group journeys out-of-body with cuts likeLightspeed Nights,Into the Gleam, andShadow Risingdrifting through degenerate stars and iron suns. Hear throughout tautPete Way-inspired underpinnings, keyboard flourishes reminiscent ofDonAiry's late '70s work, and vocals that recall the emotion and grit ofBuffalo'sDave Tice.Bygoneis an infinite cosmos in a 12" jacket, a heavy metal that feels not so much of the historical past as it does thenever-quite-was.